Tree Care

Green Your Street

Many city trees struggle to grow. Nationally, an alarming number of trees planted in sidewalks – known as “street trees” – die young or stop growing at less than their normal, mature size.

Restore Mass Ave’s goal is to get all trees in the vicinity of Embassy Row growing well, including sidewalk street trees. Please take care of the trees in front of your home, embassy or workplace! These pages say how. But –

First, protect the trees we have!

Willow oaks, a majestic and important DC tree, are increasingly threatened by infections of oak lecanium scale according to William Eck, arborist and local manager for Bartlett Expert Tree Company in Gaithersburg, MD. RMA published Eck’s warning in its September 28 Press Release, “Pest Harming District’s Willow Oaks”.

Some info on this pest (Parthenolecanium quercifix) and how you can identify it is on our new Oak Lecanium Scale page.

Our Second Row of Trees page describes our treatment project. Restore Mass Ave had to treat the pest because it threatened city sidewalk trees and nearby second row trees.

RMA’s pilot project could be a model for public-private efforts to fight the scale on groups of oak trees elsewhere in the city, where experts say treatment could save them.

Eck warns that the pest has “badly damaged” willow oaks on iconic streets such as MacArthur Boulevard Northwest. So RMA asks the DC Urban Forestry Administration “to inform the public whether the threat from this pest is getting worse.” The UFA has charge of the city’s 131,000 sidewalk street trees.

Eck says:”“It does not seem to be in the city’s budget to treat these trees to help suppress the scale infestation.”

How we’re greening Embassy Row.

So far we’ve arranged 170 new trees by curbs and 160 new trees for lawns and yards, most of the latter from our partner Casey Trees. See our Events Archive page for more. Join us for hands-on learning with like-minded “greeners” by volunteering with us. Meanwhile, here are three things you can do to “green” your street: